WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) today named
Deborah E. Trautman, PhD, RN, as its new chief executive officer,
effective June 16. Dr. Trautman currently serves as executive director
of the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Transformation at Johns
Hopkins Hospital.

Appointed by the AACN Board of Directors, Dr. Trautman will replace
Geraldine Polly Bednash, PhD, RN, FAAN, who has served with distinction
as AACN’s CEO for 28 years. Dr. Bednash announced her retirement last
October.

“I’m honored and excited to take the helm of this important and
respected organization,” Dr. Trautman said. “My goal is to bolster
AACN’s longtime mission of finding new ways to improve the quality of
nursing care by re-envisioning traditional nursing roles, strengthening
nursing education programs, and striving to create a more highly
educated nursing workforce.”

“As CEO, I will place a high priority on continuing to increase
nursing's visibility, participation and leadership in national efforts
to improve health and health care. I look forward to working closely
with foundations and federal legislators on both sides of the aisle to
advocate for programs that support advanced education and leadership
development for all nurses, particularly those from under-represented
groups,” Dr. Trautman added.

“Deborah Trautman will be an outstanding leader for our association,”
said AACN President Eileen T. Breslin, PhD, RN, FAAN, who served on the
national search committee to identify AACN’s next CEO. “Her impressive
achievements, leadership style and vision for the future are an ideal
match for advancing AACN’s mission and the priorities of professional
nursing education, research, and practice.”

“Dr. Trautman’s strong background in health policy, inter-professional
engagement, and nursing leadership make her an excellent choice as CEO,”
Dr. Bednash said. “I am proud of the progress we’ve made over the past
three decades, and I know that my very capable successor will continue
this important work on behalf of nurses and the patients we serve.”

In her current role at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Dr. Trautman works
with industry leaders across the health professions to increase public
and congressional understanding of complex health issues. The Center for
Health Policy and Healthcare Transformation was created through a
partnership between the university’s Schools of Medicine, Public Health,
and Nursing to foster strategic collaborations with policy makers,
health practitioners, and the general public to advance solutions to
improving healthcare nationally and internationally.

Prior to her work at the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare
Transformation, Dr. Trautman served as the Vice President of Patient
Care Services for Howard County General Hospital, which is part of the
Johns Hopkins Health System, and as Director of Nursing for Emergency
Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. She also holds a joint
appointment at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.

Dr. Trautman has authored and coauthored publications on health policy,
intimate partner violence, pain management, clinical competency, change
management, cardiopulmonary bypass, the use of music in the emergency
department, and consolidating emergency services. As a member of the
senior leadership at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, she represents the
hospital on the Baltimore City Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team.

Dr. Trautman also serves as an advisory board member and chair for
Academy Health's Interdisciplinary Research Interest Group on Nursing
Issues. She has served as a Magnet Appraiser Fellow for the American
Nurses Association Credentialing Center Commission on Accreditation and
as an advisory committee member for the navigator and enrollment
committee of the Maryland Health Insurance Exchange.

She was a 2007-2008 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow
and worked for the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, then-Speaker of the U.S.
House of Representatives. Dr. Trautman has been a strong ally of AACN’s
advocacy work since her stint on Capitol Hill. She has been a regular
presenter at AACN’s annual conferences, Student Policy Summit, and
Faculty Policy Intensive program and presented last October as part of
the Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Conference coordinated by AACN on behalf
of the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare.

Dr. Trautman received her BSN from West Virginia Wesleyan College, an
MSN from the University of Pittsburgh, and a PhD in health policy from
the University of Maryland's Department of Public Policy.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is the
national voice for university and four-year-college education programs
in nursing. Representing 750 member schools of nursing at public and
private institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research,
governmental advocacy, data collection, publications and other programs
work to establish quality standards for bachelor's and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those
standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and
promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education,
research and practice. Web site: http://www.aacn.nche.edu.